According to an article in Science Daily radiologists have recently devised a better way to perform a mammogram. The digital tomosynthesis, is helping find cancer as small as 2 millimeters. This machine uses an xray tube that moves around the breast at at least 11 different angles taking multiple images.A computer then puts the information together to create a 3-D image. A traditional mammogram only used 2 angles and can be difficult to read due to dense breast tissue that looks similar to cancer. Elizabeth Rafferty, a radiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital states, " I think for many radiologists the prospect of interpreting a mammography is very scary." comparing it to Where's Waldo she says ".....I'm trying to find the thing I'm interested in but it looks like everything else in a sea of normal structures." Another benefit of this new method is it uses less compression, making it less painful for the patient.
I think this is a great advancement and will hopefully save more women's lives with early detection. Many women put off getting mammograms done due to fear. Hopefully this method will give the radiologists a better look and detect cancer before it spreads.
I feel that this is definitely a great discovery! My mother always complained about going due to the pain, so I could imagine it being less painful will have much more women willing to go. Breast cancer is one of the top cancers that kill women so I feel it is very important that a thorough search for it is definitely needed. It's great they can get more views out of this method.
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